Back in the second grade, I came in second place in the county chess tournament. I was savagely pwned by the one nerd who knew three move checkmate. He was a total jerk about it too, rubbing his victory in my face like he was the second coming of Gary Kasparov. After my king fell, I just sat there in utter disbelief. My tiny chess world caved in around me as they handed me a little wiener of a trophy. “Why didn’t anyone tell me his little secret?”, I asked myself as I scowled at my father from across the school cafeteria. That kid would go on to become the CEO of Beyond Meat. Okay, that’s a lie. I honestly don’t know where that kid is today but I am pretty sure he didn’t put out a blog post 52-weeks in a row! What a loser.
Speaking of sharing secrets, more than a year ago, while shooting a video together, the Magnus Carlson of personal finance, Josh Brown, shared a little secret with me. He told me to start a blog, get on a writing schedule and to stick with it. A bombshell secret, I know. It turned out to be some pretty solid advice because now this blog attracts more than just a few new users to the site each month. More importantly, it helps me routinely communicate with my clients as well as generate new business by being on brand. Most importantly, however, my blog allows me to be me and share my authentic self with you. And while this blog has technically been around for years, only in these last 52-weeks has it truly been my voice.
As my favorite NHL mascot, Gritty, would say, “It me.” What you’ve been reading this past year is simply my life and what has going on around me. Everything I’ve posted here has been my real thoughts on the topics of personal finance, Millennial lifestyle, financial services, entrepreneurship, the markets, parenthood and, yes, even memes about stonks. I’m sure it’s real snoozefest for most people but, looking back at it, I’d only tell you that I wish I started much sooner because writing each week has opened up more than just some internet marketing funnels for my business. This experience has been beyond personally and professionally rewarding. It’s cathartic.
Look, not everything I write is a banger (clearly). In fact, most posts are average at best. But that’s what you get when you’re running a both a planning firm and a young family. I literally eek out these posts in between toddler birthday parties, weekend naps (if I am lucky) and the few times I go downstairs in the basement to hide. Free time doesn’t come easy these days so now would seem like the appropriate moment to thank my wife. In case you didn’t know, she’s the real writer in the house so you can only imagine how excruciating it is for her to hear and occasionally proof/edit my powder puff prose. Seriously, she’ll bury you with the pen.
Yet, there were some posts that did breakout and find a modicum of success. I still get emotional reading the personal ones like “When Coffee is Life”, “Cleaning Out My Closet” and “A Letter to My Friends”. On the financial planning side of things, I enjoyed writing about one of my book’s central themes, “Earn The Right to Invest”, which ended up turning into some sleek CNBC digital content. Even some of my markets/investment related pieces floated to the top like, “Investor Amnesia” and “Generational Buying Opportunity”. But, hands down, the biggest entry of the year was “Men Have No Friends”. UPDATE: We still suck at making friends.
God only knows what I’ll write about over next 52-weeks, but I do know it will be something going on in my life that I just have to share with you (i.e. being ranked #7 on the Investopedia Top 100 last week). Okay, that was not a smooth plug at all, but the point is I won’t stop writing any time soon. And maybe, just maybe, I will allow myself to skip a week for the sake of my marriage and children. Anyways, thanks for reading and allowing me to share a little bit of my world with you. I am grateful for your continued readership and web traffic.
Special thanks to: Josh Brown, Morgan Housel, Michael Batnick, Justin Castelli, Jim O’Shaughnessy, Ben Hunt, Jim Pavia, Tadas Viskanta, Nick Maggiulli, Tyrone Ross, Jr., Jake (@EconomPic), Barry Ritholtz, Ramp Capital, Tim Mullooly, Michael Kitces, Ben Carlson, Corey Hoffstein, Caleb Silver, Adam Singer, David Perell and everyone that was kind enough to share, contribute and provide feedback over these last 52 weeks. I am a better writer because of you. Apologies if I left anyone out. I love you all.
Come throw your content into the instant feedback loop that is Twitter:
My Writing Process:
💭 Get an idea.
✍🏼 Write about that idea.
👩🏼 Share what I wrote with my wife.
🛠 Fix it.— Douglas A. Boneparth (@dougboneparth) July 30, 2019